1. I want to hear what success for this band would look like to you
1. I want to hear reasons why you would like this to happen(if you would)
2. I want to hear what you want from the band or what you want to see the band do(I guarantee we will not make everyone happy- but we will do our best)
3. I believe success is already on its way to this band- I\'m just not sure where it\'s coming from yet. I want to hear stories of how you see this band getting the success that is coming to them. (make up a story - how do you think it will happen - because we need ideas)
1&2. I think success for The Breakfast (read: long term goals) should really be decided by the band members and anyone else on the payroll. I\'m happy with whatever goals they set. I think they should earn enough to have whatever they deem to be a good income and health care. For whatever my personal opinion is worth, I\'d like to see them get to Disco Biscuits level. (The selfish side of me and many others would like to see them peak there and not make the leap to Cheese/Widespread level because it\'s just too much effort to be a fan at that point. But I can\'t ask for that. That would be like a coach telling his players not to play hard. Can\'t do it.) Here is what this level is in specific, attainable, and measurable goals:
A. Play Bonnaroo in 2008
B. Top-3 Headliner of a festival of 3,000+ people in 2008, 5,000+ people in 2009, and top-5 headline a 10,000+ festival by summer of 2011.
C. Start their own festival by 2012. Draw 3,000 by 2015.
D. In 2008, Tim should be able to do a 10-show northeast regional solo tour and sell 75+ tickets a night.
E. By the end of 2008 have sold out Toad\'s, Knitting Factory, Middle East Downstairs, Iron Horse, and Higher Ground. I haven\'t seen the band in the midwest or west coast since 2002, but similar goals can be set there.
F. By end of summer 2009 have headlined Pearl Street Downstairs, Paradise, Bowery Ballroom, and similar small theaters in upstate NY. Think Phish circa 1991.
G. By 2011 have steady crowds of 1,000 on East Coast, 750 elsewhere. $2,500 minimum pay per gig.
H. Tim and Adrian should be household names and generally positioned and marketed as such. Reid Genaur, Brendan Bayliss, Aaron Katz, Carter Beauford, etc....all names that you associate with a certain band and outside of that band. Tim and Adrian should be at a similar level.
3. I gotta give it to you Matt, this question is simultaneously brilliant and disturbing. I love your asking fans to paint a success story. That\'s a great idea, I\'m going to use it at work : ) I\'m scared that you don\'t know where the success is going to come from. There should be short-term goals in place that lead to long term goals, that\'s where it comes from. Speaking of which...
Story #1:Try tweaking the goals I wrote above, then post them on your desk and in the van and in every guy\'s instrument case, and even on here so you\'re really liable for them. Don\'t let anyone forget it. There\'s a story: The Day The Breakfast Set Specific Measurable Goals And Posted Them Everywhere. I have told EVERYONE I know about how I\'m running a half-marathon on October 7th and how I\'m going to break 2 hours. Boy am I liable now! I have my 10-week training schedule posted in 3 places. I\'ve never run more than 7 miles before, but I\'m going to do it.
Story #2: The band has never really had any PR whatsoever. Not since the days of the free sticker (98-01) has there ever been a feel-good story off the stage. Start your own charity and mention it in all communication. Supporting another charity is nice but it\'s cliche and promotes that charity more than the band. Ever heard of Strangers Helping Strangers or the Waterwheel? Of course you have. Now that\'s PR. Not only do people latch onto bands that do this sort of thing, but when it\'s your own thing it promotes the band too. It doesn\'t have to be a lot of work either, just mention it in all communication and keep it simple to execute, such as "$1 from every T-shirt purchased goes to support the Breakfast For Breast Cancer Fund." Have occasional shows that are very campaign-heavy, or do something light every show the way SHS offered a ticket discount to people bringing food items to every Strangefolk show for years. Just promote the living hell out of it. It should be like the 5th member of the band.
Story #3: Here\'s a promo idea I posted eons ago, probably on the old yahoo fangroup. Have a Taper Appreciation Night. Give a discounted or free ticket and free blank media to anyone taping the show. Do it in a 2nd-tier market for the band, like somplace in the midwest. Then promote the balls out of it like it\'s the biggest event in band history. Because it IS the biggest event in band history, dammit : ) It matters not if 5 or 50 tapers come to that show. What matters is that every taper and fan from coast to coast hears about it. That\'s how to win people. There\'s 200 jambands at Breakfast level playing good shows every night. There are very, very few doing this type of stuff. This is how to differentiate.
Speaking of which...
Story #4: The key word in Breakfast marketing needs to be DIFFERENTIATION. It\'s too $&^%ing hard to differentiate yourself on a strictly musical basis. We\'ve been trying that for 8 years and it doesn\'t work. There are way too many acts out there for most people to have any time to figure out what is what. It takes time and a lot of listening for the average fan to differentiate jambands musically, and we are living in a generation of short-attention-span theater. Sure, you and I and anyone reading this knows The Breakfast rocks harder than anyone else, but obviously the rate at which most people figure this out is VERY slow. Unless you\'re Mars Volta or Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey or some other completely far out act whose sound is instantly, utterly, and dangerously unique to absolutely anyone who hears it, you need to differentiate some other way. Compared to most competing bands, the Breakfast musically are different (and superior) but they\'re not different enough. Let\'s just be honest about it. The Breakfast are instantly, utterly, and dangerously unique to the people on this board, but it\'s taken 9 years to create maybe 200 of us. 95% of people listen to them and lump them in with 100 other good bands. That rate ain\'t cutting it.
We need to differentiate through PR campaigns and by promoting Tim.Speaking of which...
Story #5: Tim Palmieri should be a household name. People should be going to see Tim. They don\'t have to be in love with the whole Breakfast package but they should fall over for Breakfast tickets to see Tim. Remember when Strangefolk had Reid? A lot of people went to Strangefolk to see Reid, the rest of the band be damned. I\'ve seen the Flecktones over 20 times and there is no question that half the crowd is there to see Victor Wooten even if the other Flecktones were Moe, Larry, and Curly. (Ad is good enough but it\'s impossible to promote a drummer and get any value. It\'s even hard to do for a superduperstar. Case in point: Pork Tornado w/ Jon Fishman never exactly packed the house, and that was Jon Fishman.) Tim\'s solo success can really help promote The Breakfast. This is a real opportunity that must stretch beyond New Haven. (Sorry guys!) Get Tim 5-10 night runs around New England. Pair him up with another name if necessary, like someone from RAQ or whoever. But get Tim Palmieri the brand name out there. Individual Starpower is another point of differentiation available to The Breakfast that is not available to other bands. Now to make use of it...
Story #6: I did 5 issues of a fan newsletter called Breakfast Digest last year. I stopped because I paid $80 an issue out-of-pocket to print it and I can\'t afford to print it anymore. They\'re still up on here, take a look or I\'ll email them to you. They\'re actually really good if I do say so myself. Let me know if you\'ll fund it and I\'ll get back on it. Again, differentiation. The only band I know of that has a steady by-fans-for-fans newsletter is Umph, that\'s where I got the idea.
That\'s it. Wow, 105 minutes typing this post. Thanks for reading and great posting everyone!
